Convicted murderer busted for drug possession, probation violation

A man who was convicted of murdering a 7-year-old girl in Rainier Valley 20 years ago is now in trouble again for drug and probation violations.

Lavell Cotton, 33, was arraigned Thursday in King County Superior Court on a drug violation charge and released from King County Jail pending the resolution of the case. He pleaded not guilty.

Cotton was convicted of first-degree murder in 1995 after the shooting death of Angelica Marie Robinson the previous year.

Robinson was sleeping on the floor in her home, a boarding house of sorts on South Chicago Street, when Cotton and two associates came to collect money from a drug transaction, court documents say. The affidavit is short on specifics, but the visit led to gunfire and Robinson was caught in the cross hairs.

Cotton was 13 years old at the time.

Cotton was sentenced to 23 years in prison. However, he was released five years early, in April 2013, according to the Department of Corrections.

He could face up to six months in jail if convicted as charged in his current case.

A King County Sheriff’s deputy pulled Cotton over Dec. 26 on Interstate 5 in Tukwila, probable cause documents say. During a routing license plate check, the deputy found Cotton, the registered owner for the vehicle, had a felony escape warrant out for failing to report to his community custody officer.

Cotton reportedly gave the deputy a false name, birthdate and Social Security number, but later admitted he lied when the deputy confronted him his with inconsistencies, reports say.

The deputy, searching Cotton before taking him to jail, found a bindle of crack cocaine on his person worth about $20.